HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing

HP wants you to print things through its cloud service, wherein you pay a subscription fee for ink and your usage is routed through its servers. To encourage you to do this, it covers the USB port …

https://boingboing.net/2023/08/04/hp-printer-usb-port-covered-with-warning-sticker-in-hopes-you-wont-use-it.html

HP covers printer's USB port with warning sticker to make sure you don't go right ahead and use it | Boing Boing

HP wants you to print things through its cloud service, wherein you pay a subscription fee for ink and your usage is routed through its servers. To encourage you to do this, it covers the USB port …

Boing Boing
JFC! HP sucks. Just buy a Brother laser printer used and never worry about it because it’s bulletproof and a workhorse.
And will work OOTB on Linux with CUPS. Easiest process ever.

I don't know what CUPS is, but I had 3 major reservations about switching my barely functional computer to Linux:

  • Ive never worked in Linux before
  • My dive computer only uploads to proprietary software using a proprietary cable.
  • My Brother laser printer was working SO well wirelessly. It's the first time I've ever not hated my printer
  • Turns out some amazing people made open source dive logging software so I can still download my dives.

    And for printing, I meant to get around to setting it up, then one day I forgot and accidentally printed something and it just worked. I was so shocked that for a bit I assumed that reformatting the hard drive and changing operating systems must've somehow preserved my printer settings.

  • Start with something simple like Mint or Fedora. It’s quite easy to use.

  • Can you be more specific about the specific cable and software? Odds are it works, or it can work with some tinkering.

  • Brother printers work great in Linux in my experience.

  • While your advice is sound, I think you might not have read @jrubal1462’s comment in full. They already installed Linux, found FOSS alternatives for the proprietary dive software and their printer, to their shock, worked OOTB.
  • Is your device supported by subsurface.github.io/SupportedDivecomputers/ ?
  • Divecomputers

    GitHub page for mostly our announcements and increasingly larger parts of our website

    Subsurface
    Yup! I had a little difficulty communicating with the computer, but all I had to do was add my user to the "dial-out" group and it worked like a charm.
    I pay 10 cents per page at the library for twe two things I need to print a decade
    I bought the printer when I was living in a place where the nearest library was 10 miles away and I only had access to a bus. I couldn’t afford a car.
    If you print more than twice a decade, you can get that down to about 2 cents a page with a brother laser printer and third party cartridges.